“I do.”
“It won’t matter.” Ty laughed bitterly. “I did all of those things; I might as well own it.”
“Owning it is one thing, being stupid is another.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m not a believer in all press is good press.”
Ty sounded exhausted, over all of the bullshit. “No one cares, Jace.”
“I care. You care.” I reminded him. “You don’t want those out there for the world to see.”
“And by the world you mean—” Ty rubbed his temples. “It’s humiliating looking like a whore, but I guess if the shoe fits.”
“You’re too hard on yourself. All of us have been there.” I reassured him. “Being on the road nonstop for seven years is lonely.”
Ty squeezed his eyes shut and puffed out a few breaths. “There’s only been one brief time in my life when I wasn’t lonely. I’m resigned at this point.”
“Jesus. You’re still not over Zoey?” I squinted at him.
“Ding ding ding,” he said listlessly.
“Well—” I started.
“I don’t want to hear anything.” Ty sat up and pointed at me. “Seriously, I don’t want to hear anything you’ve found out from Alex.”
“They are best friends, I could—”
Ty shook his head conclusively. “No. I don’t want anyone interfering in my personal life anymore. I mean it. You have to promise me.”
“Dude, okay.” I shook my head. “But you should at least know that she’s back in Seattle.”
“Fuck.” Ty buried his face in his hands.
“I haven’t seen her.” I clasped his shoulder. “But maybe you should.”
“No.” Ty shook his head. “I need some time and space to just figure out who I am and what I want. No interference from you guys. Carter. Ronni. Groupies. Management. No bullshit. I’m going to finish the next months of the tour celibate, clean, and sober and focused on just me and what I want to do.”
“That’s probably a healthy thing for you.” I conceded.
“I never thought we’d be this successful. Or famous. But I have to believe that I can do more now that I have this platform.” Ty crossed his arms and studied me. “You know? I’ve wasted too many years.”
“Yep, I know. More than you think.”
“Hopefully, your situation will turn out better than mine.” Ty’s phone pinged and he got up, grabbed his bag, and headed for the door. “The helicopter is here, I’m heading back to LA, see you in the studio in a few days.”
“Later.” I waved.
Ty had grown up before my eyes. He wasn’t the insecure nerd-turned-rock-god anymore. He was a man, taking responsibility for himself and refusing to do anything that made him feel uncomfortable or fraudulent. I respected him for it. I was also relieved because without consciously realizing it, I had taken on the role of his protector for years. I was ready to focus on myself too.
My thoughts were interrupted when my phone pinged. Thinking it was Alex, I stared into the camera to unlock my phone.
C: Jace, I really need to see you.
Fucking Cassie. I knew it had been a mistake to hook up with her six months ago in LA. I hadn’t seen or heard from her in years after she and her sister had moved out of Seattle. Thinking it would be fun to see them both again, I’d met them for drinks after a long studio session.
Wrong.
Stretched, botoxed, and filled beyond recognition with giant watermelon tits, the sisters both looked like deformed plastic versions of their former selves. After fifteen minutes of insipid conversation about all the celebrities they’d hooked up with, I was determined to finish my drink and go.
To my surprise, the next thing I remembered was waking up the next morning in Cassie’s bed. Both of us naked. I felt like shit. The hangover was like nothing I’d ever experienced, and my recollection about the previous night’s activity was fuzzy at best. It was clear that we’d had sex, even though I didn’t remember a thing.
When I couldn’t find the used condom, I got the hell out of there and went straight to the nearest clinic to get tested. My results returned clean, but to be safe I got tested a couple of weeks later and then again, a couple of weeks ago. Each time the results were clean. Thanking God for small favors, I never bothered confronting her about it.
It didn’t mean I wasn’t pissed. I simply tried to push it out of my mind and vow that she was permanently out of my life.
Angry with myself for not doing it back then, I deleted her text and blocked the number. Nothing and no one was going to interfere with Alex and me ever again.
Least of all Cassie.
Chapter 18
ALEX
Three months later
Rushing out of the elevator on the way to my condo, I dropped all my packages to let myself in. Jace was going to be there shortly, and I wanted to look amazing for our date. Once inside, I corralled my purchases into the bedroom and rifled through to find what I was looking for. After I laid out my clothes, I grabbed a small overnight bag and shoved jeans, my Frye boots, and a sweater inside.
Next, I jumped into the shower to clean up, shave all my body parts, slathered my body with my tropical ocean lotion, and quickly dried my hair. With little time for makeup, I settled on some lengthening mascara and nude lipstick. Shimmying into a tight, black halter that pushed my boobs up, I pulled on some black-leather shorts and toed on my indulgent pair of Prada wedge espadrilles. My doorbell rang as I pulled on a few bangle bracelets for good measure.
“Holy hotness.” Jace yanked me in for a deep kiss. “This is the right way to greet a man.”
He looked incredible in faded, gray moto jeans, a simple, black T-shirt, and black boots. Smiling down at me in between kisses, Jace pushed his Ray-Ban glasses back on his head. I couldn’t help but grip his big biceps and lightly trace his poppy tattoo with my thumb.
“We’re going
